1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for producing plasma display panels and, more particularly, to a device for forming the partition walls on the base panel of such a plasma display panel, the device being designed to prevent an undesired movement of printed address electrodes of the base panel during a process of forming the partition walls on said base panel, thus finally allowing a precise arrangement of the partition walls with the address electrodes on the base panel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a view, showing the construction of a conventional device for forming the partition walls on the base panel of a plasma display panel (PDP). As shown in the drawing, the conventional partition wall forming device comprises a lower plate 102, a plate punch 112, and an upper plate 114. During a process of forming desired partition walls on the base panel 104 of a PDP, the lower plate 102 seats the base panel 104 thereon, with a partition wall sheet 106 of a predetermined thickness being laid on the panel 104 and a plurality of regularly spaced electrodes 108 arranged on the partition wall sheet 106. The plate punch 112, having a plurality of partition wall forming grooves 110, is positioned above the partition wall sheet 106. The upper plate 114 holds the top surface of the plate punch 112, and moves the punch 112 in a vertical direction. In the conventional partition wall forming device, the lower plate 102 is held by a lower support 116, while the upper plate 114 is held by an upper support 118.
A plurality of heaters 120 and 124 are set within both the plate punch 112 and the lower plate 102. Therefore, the plate punch 112 and the lower plate 102 are heated to predetermined temperatures by the heaters 120 and 124, thus easily forming desired partition walls on the base panel 104 when compressing the partition wall sheet 106 by the plate punch 112 and the lower plate 102. In the drawing, the reference numeral 105 denotes a dielectric layer coated on the partition wall sheet 106 while completely covering the electrodes 108.
The conventional partition wall forming device is operated as follows:
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the base panel of a PDP having the partition walls formed by the conventional forming device of FIG. 1.
In an operation of the partition wall forming device, the upper plate 114 actuates the plate punch 112, thus moving the punch 112 downward to a predetermined height in a vertical direction so as to allow the punch 112 to press the top surface of the partition wall sheet 106 down. Therefore, a plurality of regularly spaced partition walls 130, having a shape corresponding to the partition wall forming grooves 110 of the punch 112, are formed on the sheet 106 of the base panel 104.
However, the conventional partition wall forming device is problematic as follows: That is, when the plate punch 112 presses the top surface of the partition wall sheet 106 of the base panel 104 down to form the partition walls 130 on the sheet 106 as described above, the printed electrodes 108 positioned at the area around the edge of the base panel 104 are undesirably moved to the side of the partition walls 130. Therefore, the electrodes 108 may fail to be precisely arranged with the partition walls 130, thus failing to produce a desired PDP.
In addition, the flow characteristics of the partition wall sheet 106 are different from those of the printed electrodes 108 due to both heat of the heaters 120 and 124 and punching pressure during the process of forming the partition walls 130 on the base panel 104. Therefore, it is very difficult to control such an undesired movement of the electrodes 108 within the partition wall sheet 106.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a device for forming the partition walls on the base panel of a PDP, which is designed to prevent an undesired movement of the printed address electrodes of the base panel during a process of forming the partition walls on the base panel, thus finally allowing a precise arrangement of the partition walls with the address electrodes on the base panel.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a device for forming partition walls of a plasma display panel, comprising: a lower plate used for seating the base panel of the plasma display panel thereon during a partition wall forming process, with a partition wall sheet of a predetermined thickness formed on the base panel and a plurality of electrodes arranged on the base panel; a punch provided with a plurality of partition wall forming grooves having a shape corresponding to that of the partition walls to be formed on the base panel, with a plurality of lands formed between the partition wall forming grooves and used for pressing the partition wall sheet during the partition wall forming process, and an electrode holding means formed on each of the lands and used for preventing the electrodes from being undesirably moved during the process; and an upper plate positioned above the punch so as to hold the punch and to move the punch in a vertical direction within a predetermined range.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a device for forming partition walls of a plasma display panel by pressing a partition wall sheet of a predetermined thickness, formed on the base panel of the plasma display panel, using a punch, wherein the punch is a roll punch having a predetermined diameter with a rotating shaft mounted to the central axis of the roll punch, the roll punch also having a plurality of partition wall forming grooves, with a plurality of lands formed between the partition wall forming grooves and used for pressing the partition wall sheet during a partition wall forming process, and an electrode holding means formed on each of the lands and used for holding printed electrodes of the partition wall sheet so as to prevent the electrodes from being undesirably moved during the partition wall forming process.